1-4. What difficult situation does Peter face, and how would you feel if you were in his place?

WITH a resounding clang, the massive iron gate swings shut behind Peter. Shackled between two Roman guards, he is led off to his cell. He then endures long hours, perhaps days, of waiting to learn what is to be done with him. There is little for his gaze to fall on but his prison walls and bars, his chains, and his guards.

² The news, when it comes, is grim. King Herod Agrippa I is determined to see Peter dead.a In fact, Peter is to be presented to the people after the Passover, his death sentence a gift to delight the crowds. This is no empty threat. One of Peter’s fellow apostles​—James—​has recently been executed by this same ruler.

7, 8. How did the congregation respond to Peter’s imprisonment?

⁷ The execution of James pleased the Jews, just as Agrippa had hoped. Thus emboldened, he went after Peter next. As described at the outset, he had Peter arrested. Agrippa likely recalled, though, that prisons had not always proved effective in containing the apostles, as noted in Chapter 5 of this book. Taking no chances, Herod had Peter chained between 2 guards, with 16 guards working in shifts day and night to make sure that this apostle did not escape. If he did, those guards would themselves face Peter’s sentence. Under such dire circumstances, what could Peter’s fellow Christians do?